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I just finished the first season today. Its really really good. Like Fly said, its very story driven, more so then The Sopranos. The Sopranos is more character driven. I do feel the characters are lacking, we haven't been given that much detail about them and how the job affects them (well until the last few episodes). That said, its extremely good and well worth the watch. I will more then likely buy the second season, by far the best cop drama I have ever see.

Overall though (at this moment) I don't think The Wire has the depth and substance The Sopranos achieved, especially with the characters. The Wire is striking at the relationships between Good V Evil, Cop V Bad Guy, Poor Neighborhood V Rich Neighborhood. I think it does question society rather well, but it can get too political. Where The Sopranos did look at Society it also looked at the bigger picture.

On the characters; In The Sopranos the characters all know each other from the very first episode, but the characters in The Wire don't all know each other. This could be an argument against people who think the characters in The Wire lack any real depth. Personally I think Bubbles has the most depth out of all the characters.

Jouster, I never recovered after missing week 3, so I decided to wait until the end of the season when they customarily review the whole thing in a marathon/nightly format before the finale. I do hope to catch up at that time and see the series ender. Glad to hear it's picked up some as I wasn't bowled over after the first two episodes.

Tony, his spirits crushed after b-lining to the fridge first thing in the morning: "Who ate the last piece of cake?"

Well, they never did what they do with the Sopranos before a season ender, which is run all the episodes 3-hour blocks the few nights before. So now I've missed most of the season with no way to catch up before Sunday.

I don't know whether I should watch or not.

Tony, his spirits crushed after b-lining to the fridge first thing in the morning: "Who ate the last piece of cake?"

I have just finished season 3 and wow what else can I say? Its just brilliant. Better then The Sopranos in some ways and worse in others, but equally as brilliant. I highly recommend this show to everyone, so if your hesitant about putting down some dough to rent or buy a season don't be. Fly did you say that you haven't seen much of the show before the final season? If so I think you should really consider watching all the seasons, it wouldn't be fair to do otherwise.

I also can't believe that this show has barely won any awards, absolutely disgraceful. When shit like Grey's Anatomy and Heroes gets more recognition, what sort of world do we live in.

Irish, the problem is my local video stores only carry the first season. I could rent that and watch, but then I'd be stuck unless I wanted to buy, and I don't really want to do that. I might try Netflix though when I get around to opening an account.

I started watching last season, saw almost all of those episodes, and thought it was really good. But I still don't consider it anywhere near the Sopranos as a work of art, except regarding the realism of its gritty elements and in its recognition of corruption in all institutions and people.

Tony, his spirits crushed after b-lining to the fridge first thing in the morning: "Who ate the last piece of cake?"

I would agree with you that "The Wire" isn't as 'artistic' as "The Sopranos" regarding its themes, it most certainly doesn't focus on philosophical and psychological issues as much as "The Sopranos". But it does pretty darn well with a lot of other issues and themes, mostly sociological.

after watching the wire up to season 3 i would say that from my personal point of view i prefer the sopranos mainly because of the artistic qualities and the stunning 3 dimensional characters. however, i feel the wire is a lot better than most of the other stuff out there, although nowadays that isn't saying much.

I still have not seen the last season, my personal favorite seasons so far are season two and season four. But that said, season one and three are pretty amazing as well. I think the show is fantastic (I'm currently re watching season 2), extremely intelligent and perfectly plotted. I think to a newcomer the first few episodes of season one can be very intimidating, mostly with all the street slang, the police slang (all the "in" jokes), and with the technical side of the story; How units get formed, the hierarchy of the police force and of course the actual "wire" itself. But I think all of these" technicalities" are very important to the show. The viewer essentially gets a better understanding of how everything works, unlike all the other cop shows out there, where the biggest explanation from those shows would be; "It just is" or "Because..." You have to the lay the foundation before anything else.

The biggest complaint I hear from critics is the pacing and of course the technical side of the show. Most prevalent in season one, but as David Simon once said. "You don't meet the whale in the first chapter of Moby Dick". Its a very novelist approach (even more so then the Sopranos). Detective Freeman for example, his miniature furniture building hobbie. Symbolizing the show piecing itself together. But once you settle into the show, familiarize yourself with everything, you really do start to see the brilliance of it. So to anyone who was turned off by it or is unsure. Give it a chance, let the show lay the ground work and establish the fundamentals. You will be pleasantly surprised.

I do realize that this post is extremely random, I'm not sure what I'm getting at. I just really cant wait to see the last season, my stupid shops around here haven't ordered it yet. Oh ya, as far as the Characters go; there is of course no way that any of the characters in The Wire could of reached the complexity of Tony Soprano, with 86 episodes of basically just him. But the developments of the Characters over the course of the seasons are just brilliant, specifically the port guys of season two and the school kids of season four. And of course the relationship between Barksdale and Stringer Bell over the course of the first 3 seasons.